Vol. 455 No. 8
416 Mr. Hughes asked the Minister for the Marine if he will make available to Deputy Seamus Hughes the Departmental Report relating to the fatality of a young French tourist near Westport, County Mayo when sailing in Clew Bay in 1994; the action, if any, that has been taken in relation to this particular site; and the general directives that have issued from his Department to the ESB in order to avoid a recurrence of such a fatality. [12912/95]
No statutory investigation or inquiry was carried out by the Department of the Marine in this case. A surveyor carried out an informal review of the circumstances and reported to the Minister for the Marine. Since the report was not prepared with a view to publication there are legal obstacles to its publication.
I refer the Deputy to answers given to previous questions in this House on 11 October 1994 and 5 April 1995. Those answers reported that: the initial recommendation to the ESB to erect improved warning signs was immediately acted on; a joint working group was established involving officials of the Departments of the Marine and of Transport, Energy and Communications and the ESB; the terms of reference of the group were to carry out an urgent review of safety standards and hazard warning procedures for overhead powerlines in the vicinity of all waterways and to offshore islands; this group agreed on a recommended minimum of 10.6 metres clearance for all new power crossings over designated waters; it also agreed a further upgrading of hazard warning and visability of power crossings and the examination in detail of existing crossings to assess the need for any other measures.
